The wireless telecommunications industry has been experiencing a tremendous growth in the past few years and, as a result, is often characterized by fierce competition between wireless service providers. In an attempt to increase revenues and profits, it is generally important for the service providers to provide better services with lower costs. Because RF (Radio-Frequency) equipment (e.g., transmission equipment, wireless network equipment) and operation cost is one of their largest network investments, it is generally important for wireless service providers to ensure that those investments increase returns in terms of revenue and profit.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical wireless telecommunication access (RF) network wherein base transceiver stations (“BTS”), such as BTS 101-BTS 105, are deployed at certain locations. A BTS (also called a cell site) contains equipment such as a radio tower, antennas, radios, and cables for supporting the traffic in its coverage area. A BTS coverage area is typically divided into sectors, such as sectors C101-C115, in which transceiver antennas face to a certain orientation for covering an area within an angle. In typical installations, each sector C101-C115 covers an area within a 120° angle.
As their subscriber base grows, wireless service providers need to identify where in the network to invest in order to provide satisfactory services to subscribers. For example, service providers need to identify BTSs and/or sectors of BTSs that require more equipment to support the current or projected traffic in each area or, in another example, need to identify where an additional BTS should be located for sufficient traffic coverage.
Current planning systems and methods attempt to create network plans that minimize the overall cost while maintaining coverage of a certain percentage of total traffic (Erlangs) in the network. These systems and methods, however, fail to account for the different level of revenue contributions from different groups of subscribers. As a result, current planning systems and methods may generate network plans that suggest investment in areas that will not generate the most revenue or profit for the wireless service provider. In fact, the current planning systems methods may indicate an investment in a location that will not generate any additional revenue, creating an investment and operational loss for the service provider.
For example, reference numerals E101-115 indicate the uncovered Erlangs for sectors C101-115, respectively. In current planning systems, the sectors are prioritized based on the uncovered traffic in each sector (E101-E115) and the investment (e.g., radios) in a sector depends on the priority of that sector. Additional BTSs may be deployed first at the locations where uncovered Erlangs are the highest, regardless of the amount of revenue (or loss) the investment is expected to return.